Referential Theory
Referential Theory
Referential Theory
CONCEPTIONS OF
MEANING
Meaning: words things
Traditional concept since Plato
Chair
Car
Desk
Meaning: words concepts
things
Thought
Symbol Referent
Ogden and Richards, 1923
S - - - - - - - - - - - - - -> r . . . . . . . . . . . . s - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -> R
The stimulus Leads Speech (s) The response
(S) someone to (R)
speak is the result
(r) of (s)
Traditional vs. Modern Linguistics
Words “have Meaning is studied
meaning”, we can by making detailed
examine the analyses of the way
meaning of words are used in
individual words specific contexts.
and sentences, but
there is no meaning
beyond that
“The meaning of a word is
its use in the language”
Ludwing Wittgenstein (1889-1951)
G. Leech in a more moderate tone recognizes 7 types of
meaning his Semantics (p. 23), first published in 1974, as
follows:
Sense = concept